ALEKS: A Perfect Math Program for Roadschoolers

I’m going to cut right to the chase here. I recently reviewed ALEKS, a complete web based math program, and I have to say, I LOVE this product.

I’m even convinced that I’ve found a new market for ALEKS-something they’ve probably not even thought of- Roadschoolers. That’s right. This product would have been so helpful when we were on the road, traveling in our motor home! Why? I can think of several reasons.

• The program is web-based and available anywhere via your computer as long as you have internet access, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• The program is fully self-contained. You do not need a textbook for any of the courses that ALEKS offers and as all full-time RVer’s know, books are heavy! Now you can leave them behind!
• If you are on the road and your child finishes a book there is no need to fret over where you’ll have the next level shipped. When you subscribe to ALEKS you have access to the entire program! You simply continue to the next level. You don’t even need to pay an additional fee!

Sounds pretty good so far, doesn’t it? But what about those of you that are not on the road? What else do I like about this program? 

Now that I have your attention, you may be wondering just what is ALEKS? As defined from the website, ALEKS- an acronym for Assessment and Learning in Knowledge Spaces- is a Web-based computerized program that assesses your child’s level of understanding quickly and efficiently by prompting your child to complete a series of questions or problems to identify the level of mastery. Since no two children will be at the same skill level, an individualized program will be tailored for each child.  It can be used as a core curriculum , to supplement your existing curriculum or as a tutor in areas that your child struggles.

This program is very user friendly. We literally logged in and started immediately. While my son was taking his assessment to determine where he was, I was watching the 12 minute video that explained the ins and outs of the Master Account which is included with every subscription.

Think of the Master Account as your game plan. It enables you to:

• Manage multiple students at once
• Monitor your child’s progress through automated reports
• Assign quizzes
• Access customer service
• Send messages to your student,
• and even send the student reports via email which is a great option for those of you that live in a state where an annual assessment of your student is required or for those that are working with a tutor.

My 15- year old son loved that the program is computer based. The questions are clear and easy to understand.

If he makes an error, he’s alerted right away. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am by this. This means that if he messes up, he doesn’t finish the entire lesson or the next or next before I get around to grading it. He knows right then that he messed up and he can make the corrections necessary.

  

If he needs additional help, he simply clicks on the button at the top of the page for more information. 

After each lesson your child will see how much progress they’ve made with easy to read pie charts. I really didn’t expect this to have as large an impact on my son as I thought that it would for someone who has struggled with math this feature serves as both an incredible motivator and confidence booster.   

As the parent, you also receive regular updates on how your child is progressing.

There are two other reasons that I really love this program:

• We may lose books at my house from time to time, but I guarantee, my children will not lose the computer! As long as we have the computer and Internet, there is no reason that they can’t complete their work.
• I’ve homeschooled, unschooled and roadschooled for a combination of 12 years and the exception of when they were very young, my children have never asked me when they could ‘do’ math. EVER. Until we began reviewing ALEKS. Right there makes this program a winner in my book.

ALEKS has a number of courses from early math to higher education and add new courses regularly. There are even a couple chemistry courses.

This innovative program is available by a subscription month-by-month basis or 6 or 12 month increments. Beginning at $19.95 per month, per child, I’m thrilled to tell you that ALEKS offers family discounts as well. And if you take a break for the holidays or need time off due to an unexpected circumstance, you can even put your account on hold so you can come back to it later and pick up where you left off.  

ALEKS has generously offered homeschooling readers of Live the Adventure access to ALEKS for a FREE 30-Day Trial which is much better than the 48- hour trial you’ll find at the company website. 

Go ahead, check it out and tell me what you think.  I hope you’ll love it. We do.

You can see what other reviewers had to say about this program at  The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew review blog.

This product was given to me free of charge by ALEKS in exchange for offering my personal opinion about the product.